Playtime

Here's the first piece of jewelry I've made in over a year.  (My son really loves LEGO, can you tell?)  It's a neck cuff assembled from my son's stash - a completely temporary affair, but it was fun to construct.  Hope all is well with everyone.

Easter Egg Maracas

I went to Target this morning for sundries and discovered that the store has marked down all Easter supplies to 90% off original price.  The section was mostly picked through, but they had a ton of plastic Easter eggs left for a whopping $.09 per bag.  Hmmm, I thought, Martian figures?  (one of the bags had a nice selection of eggs in greens and blues)  Caterpillars? I picked up a bunch and put on my thinking cap when I got home.

I've decided they'll make great kids' maracas for cinco de mayo.  I obtained the go-ahead from the SO's teachers at lunchtime and mocked this up.  Cute, eh?  I made the design with Sharpie markers on a white plastic egg.  These eggs conveniently have 2 holes on either end, so I simply threaded 2 long pipe cleaners through the holes and then folded them (so the pipe cleaners are in quarters), twisted them, then secured the join with hot glue.  Add a spoonful of rice and beans (and maybe hot glue the egg closed to avoid accidents), and you have a simple schoolroom craft.  I think the kids will go for it - what do you think?

All I Got Was a Rock

I finally decided that hauling the SO out to collect geodes in a riverbed was not realistic, at least for the next year or two given his age, so I gave in and we picked out one at the local rock shop to crack open.  The helpful advice we received there:  "The bigger they are, the lighter they are, the better they are."  We found a nice light US (as opposed to Moroccan) geode - and sure enough it was full of dense but delicate quartz crystals. 

My husband used a chisel and hammer to open this - I can see we will need a little practice to open these more cleanly, but I think it's not a bad first try. The SO enjoyed the results (and now has something for his next Show-and-Share day at school).

Here's the before photo - this guy weighed in at just about one pound:

Mild-mannered geode

I'd like to say I've been working like mad on jewelry behind the scenes, but this would be a complete lie.   On the other hand, I finally spent part of my prize money from last year's Fire Mountain Gems and Beads contest yesterday - I can hardly believe I've had that $750 gift certificate just burning a hole in my pocket for the past 8 months!  (Thanks again to Fire Mountain Gems and Beads and sorry I was a weenie and missed the contest deadline this year.)  When my treasure arrives (and I mean it - I picked up a big strand of graduated sapphire rondelles among other things), I'm hoping it will inspire me to start working again.

Hope all is well with all of you.

I'm in love...

Oh, how I love this...  (The artist is painting between layers of resin, fyi.)

(Yes, I'm still alive - I even have new work to show, if I can get my act together to photograph it.  You know you've been gone too long when you log onto your blog and no longer recognize the interface.)

Hope you all are doing well and Happy New Year.